- You can learn a lot very quickly in a very short time
- Surrounded with nothing but incredibly smart and driven individuals.
- Compensation is well beyond my expectations, and more than suitable.
- Exciting projects all across the company that keep you interested and focused.
- Amazon is changing the world

Cons

- Can be overwhelming, very steep learning curve
- Can be difficult to keep up if you are not self motivated

Really smart people, a lot of opportunity for growth, always encouraged to be innovative, think big, and create something new. Competitive salary and benefits with other major tech companies. 100% self motivating work environment. No dress code and 4 legged friends are welcome.

Cons

You have to be self motivated. NO ONE will hold your hand and tell you that you're doing a great job. If you need constant affirmations from management, this company isn't for you.

Advice to Management

More on-boarding training before new employees are thrown in the fire. The first couple of weeks can be very confusing on where to find the information you need that pertains to your job.

Jeff Bezos and his "S-Team" are brilliant and continue to make great decisions for long-term growth.
You work with smart people, you work on exciting projects, you are pushed to your limits...which can be rewarding when you accomplish great things. The diversity of the potential work and innovation can be very alluring. I've often called Amazon my "Sexy Mistress...she's emotionally abusive, but she's so sexy that...

Show More

Cons

The management process is abusive, and I'm currently a manager. I've seen too much "behind the wall" and hate how our individual performers can be treated. You are forced to ride people and stack rank employees...I've been forced to give good employees bad overall ratings because of politics and stack ranking.

Advice to Management

Don't pretend that the recent NY Times article was all about "isolated incidents". The culture IS abusive and it WILL backfire once stock value starts to drop. I'm an 8 year veteran and I no longer recommend former peers to interview with Amazon.

I've been at Amazon for a month now, and I've seen none of the horror stories being communicated to the public, although Amazon is a large enough company that I'm sure there are good pockets and bad pockets. Everyone here is really smart, and wants to succeed both personally, and as a company. People collaborate and help each other, focus on data, and truly focus on the customer. Every company I've ever worked for talks...

Show More

Cons

No cons, so far - seriously. Like I said, I'm sure Amazon has some bad pockets in it here and there, but this is an amazing job, an amazing opportunity, and the biggest thing I have to complain about is that it's a little chilly in our building. I can live with that.
Does Amazon demand high quality, measurable results? Yes! Is it hard work? Yes! Is it rewarding? Yes! So I'm not calling that a 'con'. Work/life balance...

Amazon is doing lot's of cool stuff...but lots of boring stuff too. There are really well run teams...and very badly run teams. The experience for software managers and engineers is all over the board, from really run low operational load teams to teams where people burn out after a year.
- Amazon is built, quite deliberately, to be Darwinian. You can generally expect that anyone who's been here for more than 2...

Show More

Cons

- You're responsible for your own career progression and finding the places and teams that are doing the stuff you want to do. No one is going to take you by the hand and help you with that.
- Amazon is built, quite deliberately, to be Darwinian. The strong survive and the weak perish (metaphorically speaking) and the 'bar' is constantly increasing. The level of performance that would have been acceptable five years...

Show More

Advice to Management

Stack ranking is a horrible practice since it's rife with favoritism. It's also not Amazonian in that it's not data based (arbitrarily designating a certain percentage of employees that must be put on performance management isn't a data driven criterion) and it's not frugal (effectively forcing an individual out of the company in one division who would make the grade in another is either retaining someone who doesn't...

This company gets A list performance from C list employees. The culture is quick and hard charging. You are always working in relevant and meaningful projects.

Cons

Maybe because the company recruits C listers who have neither merit (intelligence, strategic vision) nor pedigree (academic or professional accomplishments), most of those who become successful do so in treacherous, low cunning ways.
Imagine the Lannisters in Game of Thrones attacking the Starks in Game of Thrones; or Rawls and Burrell attacking McNulty and Daniels in The Wire; or Barrow and O'Brien attacking Mr Bates...

Show More

Advice to Management

Bezos you bought the Washington Post and hired Jay Carney to be your PR head. There is nothing I can write here that you would deign listen to, because you are a hack. You must be mad that Expedia beat you to the punch and hired Chelsea Clinton to serve on their board of directors.
For those grasping Weasels that have squirmed and back stabbed your way to success, you know who you are. You won't care what is written...

Great starting pay and the ability to get raises very quickly. Full training in all areas are offered and if your willing to work hard and sweat everyday for 10 hours a day, 4 days a week, then this is the job for you. The 4 day weeks go by quick, it can be exhausting so proper rest and a healthy lifestyle will help you stay strong within this company. Beat benefits as well once you are a hired on as a full time employee.

Cons

After 3 years of working with the company you "cap out" at $15.75, meaning you can no longer make any more money than that as a tier 1 associate. Your expected to want to move up in the company and that is the only way to make a better hourly wage, by advancing into management and operations management positions if there are any openings.

Your shifts are 10-12 hours so you're only working 4 days a week for full-time. They care a lot about their people. Safety is a big priority. Their system is very well done so there's little guessing you have to do. Opportunities for promotion if interested.

Cons

You can't easily change shifts until you've been there a while. Not a con for me, but some felt lonely because you're in a delivery van by yourself for 10-12 hours per shift. You are delivering 150-170 (sometimes more) packages a day. Mandatory overtime weeks during peak (Prime Days, Christmas, etc.)